Women's Tennis Wins NCAA Regional Match Against Angelo State

SAN ANTONIO – Each of the three times that St. Mary's and Angelo State played this season, the Rattlers Women's Tennis team allowed one less point, winning 4-1 on Monday in the First Round of the NCAA Championship.
 
During the regular season, the Rattlers (23-4) defeated the Rambelles 4-3, beat them 4-2 in the Lone Star Conference Championship match and won 4-1 in the First Round of the NCAA Championship to improve to 5-1 in the all-time series.
 
StMU dropped the doubles point but was able to refocus and take care of business in singles as all four points were won in straight sets. 
 
Senior Ashley Penshorn (Montgomery, Texas), ranked 15th in the most-recent ITA polls, won her second-straight match over No. 7 Dianela Rodriguez, dropping only two games in a 6-2, 6-0 victory.
 
Senior Angela Vargas (Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico) extended her winning streak to 15 consecutive with her 6-2, 6-3 win on court two over Eva Schwartz.
 
"Once again, we managed to make a great comeback after coming out extremely flat in the doubles," said Director of Tennis Bill Macom. "Fortunately, the girls have been in that position before and were able to keep their composure and a pretty positive outlook. When your top two players can finish quickly like Angela and Ashley did, it helps get the crowd energized and brought that momentum to the upper two banks of courts."
 
The momentum pushed freshman Stela Sifuentes into her 20th win of the year as she defeated Ayda Guler 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6 singles.
 
The crowd of 187 then focused on court three as junior Elena Munoz (Corregidora, Queretaro, Mexico) stayed patient and took advantage of her opportunities in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Christine Jevicky at No. 3 to clinch the team victory.
 
Both junior Kyndall Quiroz (San Antonio) and senior Gabi Ioannou (Melbourne, Australia) were locked in second-set battles after long first sets at four and five, respectively.
 
The Rattlers will await the seeding for the NCAA Championship, which begins May 11 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.